Language Log » Names of the chemical elements in Chinese Names of the chemical elements in Chinese Mike Pope relayed to me the following from his son Zack, a high school physics teacher: I was wondering what the periodic table of elements looked like in China, and found this image . This may or may not be the "official" periodic table, but I thought it was interesting to see the similarities in the characters. Specifically the character for gold, which is also the character for metal in general, and is a prefix for a large portion of the periodic table. The character for water is a large part of the character for mercury, and a few others, and all of the gas elements have the same character in them. It makes me wonder what the protocol is for naming new elements in Chinese, since they seem to be focused on the properties of the element itself, and that would take more investigating than might be possible for new elements, which usually only exist for fractions of fractions of seconds. Newly discovered elements these days are named (in English) after people: Bohrium, Rutherfordium, Fermium, Einstenium, etc. and I wonder what the Chinese equivalent of those elements is. Zack has raised many good questions.

The first thing we may say about the names of the chemical elements in Chinese is that every single one of them is monosyllabic. This actually causes great problems for Chinese chemists and other scientists, as well as the lay public, since there are so many homophones and near-homophones among them and with other monosyllabic words not on the list. Listening to a lecture or holding discussions that mention chemical elements and hearing the elements referred to by these monosyllabic names is challenging, to say the least. They just don't stand out the way, say, "chlorine" and "hydrogen" do. The vast majority of the Chinese characters for the elements contain the "gold / metal" radical 金. Next in number are characters that contain the "gas / vapor" radical 气. After that comes a smaller group of characters containing the "stone / rock" radical 石. Last, there are two characters that contain the water radical 氵/ 水: xiù 溴 ("bromine") and gǒng 汞 ("mercury").

In terms of the classification of the elements by state (solid, liquid, gas, unknown) and type (metals [alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, lanthanoids, actinoids, transition metals, post-transition metals], nonmetals [halogens, noble gases, other nonmentals]), and metalloids, the division (according to character radicals) into metal, gas, stone, and water is not accurate. Only a few of the characters for the elements existed in premodern times (e.g., those for "silver", "copper", "iron", "tin", "gold", "lead", "mercury", "carbon", "boron", and "sulfur"). Most of the characters for elements that were isolated during the Industrial Age or discovered more recently have had to be invented from scratch to transcribe the sound of the initial part of the name of the element in Western languages. These characters serve no other purpose than to designate the elements in question, and a number of them do not exist in electronic fonts.

Unicode strives to add these newly created characters to the higher levels of its latest versions, but there is always naturally going to be a time lag between the creation of new characters and the time they are actually implemented in Unicode. In addition, as more and more new elements are being discovered, chemists in China, Taiwan, and elsewhere have not yet devised any character for several of them. And that brings up the matter of multiple characters for the same elements and multiple readings for the same characters in Taiwan and China (see the list below). After receiving Mike's message, I set about doing the necessary research to answer Zack's questions. I was both surprised and disappointed by how hard it was to find a simple numerical list giving the following information for each element: number, symbol, English name, Chinese character (traditional and simplified), Pinyin. Various Chinese versions of the periodic chart of elements were not hard to locate, but they were all unsatisfying in one way or another (not well organized, not very legible, incomplete, etc.). In the end, several colleagues helped me devise our own list, which, for now, can only be found here on Language Log.

So far as I can tell, it is more comprehensive and up-to-date than any list of Chinese names for the chemical elements that is available anywhere. 1 H Hydrogen 氫:氢 qīng 2 He Helium 氦:氦 hài 3 Li Lithium 鋰:锂 lǐ 4 Be Beryllium 鈹:铍 pí 5 B Boron 硼:硼 péng 6 C Carbon 碳:碳 tàn 7 N Nitrogen 氮:氮 dàn 8 O Oxygen 氧:氧 yǎng 9 F Fluorine 氟:氟 fú 10 Ne Neon 氖:氖 nǎi 11 Na Sodium 鈉:钠 nà 12 Mg Magnesium 鎂:镁 měi 13 Al Aluminum 鋁:铝 lǚ 14 Si Silicon 硅:硅 guī (PRC); 矽:矽 xì (Tw) (PRC pron.

xī) 15 P Phosphorus 磷:磷 lín 16 S Sulfur 硫:硫 liú 17 Cl Chlorine 氯:氯 lǜ 18 Ar Argon 氬:氩 yà 19 K Potassium 鉀:钾 jiǎ 20 Ca Calcium 鈣:钙 gài 21 Sc Scandium 鈧:钪 kàng 22 Ti Titanium 鈦:钛 tài 23 V Vanadium 釩:钒 fán 24 Cr Chromium 鉻:铬 gè 25 Mn Manganese 錳:锰 měng 26 Fe Iron 鐵:铁 tiě 27 Co Cobalt 鈷:钴 gǔ (PRC); gū (Tw) 28 Ni Nickel 鎳:镍 niè 29 Cu Copper 銅:铜 tóng 30 Zn Zinc 鋅:锌 xīn 31 Ga Gallium 鎵:镓 jiā 32 Ge Germanium 鍺:锗 zhě 33 As Arsenic 砷:砷

 shēn 34 Se Selenium 硒:硒 xī 35 Br Bromine 溴:溴 xiù 36 Kr Krypton 氪:氪 kè 37 Rb Rubidium 銣:铷 rú 38 Sr Strontium 鍶:锶 sī 39 Y Yttrium 釔:钇 yǐ 40 Zr Zirconium 鋯:锆 gào 41 Nb Niobium 鈮:铌 ní 42 Mo Molybdenum 鉬:钼 mù 43 Tc Technetium 鍀:锝 dé (PRC); 鎝:钅+荅 tǎ (Tw) 44 Ru Ruthenium 釕:钌 liǎo 45 Rh Rhodium 銠:铑 lǎo 46 Pd Palladium 鈀:钯 bǎ (PRC); bā (Tw) 47 Ag Silver 銀:银 yín 48 Cd Cadmium 鎘:镉 gé 49 In Indium 銦:铟 yīn 50 Sn Tin �

��:锡 xī (PRC); xí (Tw) 51 Sb Antimony 銻:锑 tī (PRC); tì (Tw) 52 Te Tellurium 碲:碲 dì 53 I Iodine 碘:碘 diǎn 54 Xe Xenon 氙:氙 xiān 55 Cs Cesium 銫:铯 sè 56 Ba Barium 鋇:钡 bèi 57 La Lanthanum 鑭:镧 lán 58 Ce Cerium 鈰:铈 shì 59 Pr Praseodymium 鐠:镨 pǔ 60 Nd Neodymium 釹:钕 nǚ 61 Pm Promethium 鉕:钷 pǒ 62 Sm Samarium 釤:钐 shān 63 Eu Europium 銪:铕 yǒu 64 Gd Gadolinium 釓:钆 gá 65 Tb Terbium 鋱:铽 tè 66 Dy Dysprosium 鏑:镝 dī 67 Ho

 Holmium 鈥:钬 huǒ 68 Er Erbium 鉺:铒 ěr 69 Tm Thulium 銩:铥 diū 70 Yb Ytterbium 鐿:镱 yì 71 Lu Lutetium 鑥:镥 lǔ (PRC); 鎦:镏 liú (Tw) 72 Hf Hafnium 鉿:铪 hā 73 Ta Tantalum 鉭:钽 tǎn 74 W Tungsten 鎢:钨 wū 75 Re Rhenium 錸:铼 lái 76 Os Osmium 鋨:锇 é 77 Ir Iridium 銥:铱 yī 78 Pt Platinum 鉑:铂 bó 79 Au Gold 金:金 jīn 80 Hg Mercury 汞:汞 gǒng 81 Tl Thallium 鉈:铊 tā 82 Pb Lead 鉛:铅 qiān 83 Bi Bismuth 鉍:铋 bì 84 Po Polonium

 釙:钋 pō (PRC); pò (Tw) 85 At Astatine 砹:砹 ài (PRC); 砈 è (Tw) 86 Rn Radon 氡:氡 dōng 87 Fr Francium 鈁:钫 fāng (PRC); 鍅fǎ (Tw) 88 Ra Radium 鐳:镭 léi 89 Ac Actinium 錒:锕 ā 90 Th Thorium 釷:钍 tǔ 91 Pa Protactinium 鏷:镤 pú 92 U Uranium 鈾:铀 yóu (PRC); yòu (Tw) 93 Np Neptunium 鎿:镎 ná (PRC); 錼 nài (Tw) 94 Pu Plutonium 鈈:钚 bù (PRC); 鈽:钸 bù (Tw) 95 Am Americium 鋂:镅 méi 96 Cm Curium 鋦:锔 jú 97 Bk Berkelium 錇:锫

 péi (PRC); 鉳 běi (Tw) 98 Cf Californium 鐦:锎 kāi (PRC); 鉲:钅+卡 kǎ (Tw) 99 Es Einsteinium 鎄:锿 āi (PRC); 鑀 ài (Tw) 100 Fm Fermium 鐨:镄 fèi 101 Md Mendelevium 鍆:钔 mén 102 No Nobelium 鍩:锘 nuò 103 Lr Lawrencium 鐒:铹 láo 104 Rf Rutherfordium 鑪:钅+卢 lú 105 Db Dubnium U+289C0:钅+杜 dù 106 Sg Seaborgium U+28B4E:钅+喜 xǐ 107 Bh Bohrium U+28A0F:钅+波 bō (PRC); pō (Tw) 108 Hs Hassium U+28B46:钅+黑 hēi 109 Mt

 Meitnerium 䥑 U+4951:钅+麦 mài 110 Ds Darmstadtium 鐽: dá 111 Rg Roentgenium 錀:钅+仑 lún 112 Cn Copernicium 鎶 gē 113 Uut Ununtrium ?

And here's the elements song in Japanese . It's all in katakana gairaigo . [Thanks to Rich Warmington, Mark Swofford, Richard Cook, and Silas Brown] [Update from Apollo Wu: About the Chinese chemical names, I think they created a high learning barrier to anyone who wants to study chemistry in Chinese. As a high school student, I much preferred studying physics rather than chemistry, because I didn't have to confront all these strange Chinese characters. A similar reason for not majoring in chemistry may very well explain why Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical industries are still backward even today. Such a situation is reflected in poor product quality.] Take Our Word For It, page one - Spotlight Spotlight on... More elements Our recent journey into the name nitrogen turned up a lot of other chemical etymologies that got us looking at some other elements, and we must say that they range from the pedestrian to the bizarre. Take, for instance, the series of man-made elements with atomic weights from 113 to 118.

Their names are ununtrium, ununquadium, ununpentium, ununhexium, ununseptium, ununoctium and are hybrids concocted from the Latin unus (ï¿½oneï¿½), various Greek numbers and the standard Latinate suffix -ium. These mind-numbingly unimaginative names therefore mean ï¿½one-one-three-ium,ï¿½ ï¿½one-one-four-ium,ï¿½ ï¿½one-one-five-ium,ï¿½ etc. Many elements take their names from places. There are two elements named after continents, americium (America) and europium (Europe), and several named after countries. France appears in the periodic table twice - francium is obvious but thereï¿½s also gallium (from Gallia, Latin for Gaul). Polonium is clearly named for Poland, but itï¿½s a little harder to spot Russia in ruthenium (from medieval Latin, Ruthenia). Another easily overlooked allusion to a country is found in copper, which takes its name from Cyprus, a source of copper in ancient times.

There are some states, too: rhenium (from the Rheinland, Germany), hassium (from Latin for the German state name Hessen) and californium (do we have to spell it out?). We might also have had alabamium and illinium (for Alabama and Illinois) if scientists hadnï¿½t decided to call them astatine (from Greek for "unstable") and promethium (from Prometheus*), instead. Then there are the cities. Magnesium is from Magnesia in ancient Greece, thulium, found in Sweden, was named after Thule , a mythical land in the far north, thought by some today to actually have been Trondheim. Hafnium and holmium take their names from Hafnia and Holmia, medieval Latin for Copenhagen and Stockholm, respectively. Paris is represented by lutetium (from Latin Lutetia, the name of an ancient city on the site of modern Paris). And who would have guessed that strontium is named for a village in Argyllshire, Scotland? That village is called Strontian, where a strontium compound was found in a lead mine.

Surprisingly, the place with the most elements to its name is a small town in Sweden - Ytterby has given us ytterbium , yttrium and terbium. It seems only logical to name an element after one of its distinctive properties. The dense element tungsten has a nice, straightforward descriptive name. It means ï¿½heavy stoneï¿½ in Swedish (tung ï¿½heavyï¿½ + sten ï¿½stoneï¿½). Elements come in many colors, hence we have chlorine (Greek chloros, ï¿½yellowish-greenï¿½), cesium (Latin caesius, ï¿½sky-blueï¿½), and indium because itï¿½s indigo blue. But whatï¿½s up with chromium? Itï¿½s from the Greek chroma, ï¿½color.ï¿½ Sure, itï¿½s got a color but which one (it is actually named thus because its compounds come in several different colors)? We might raise a similar objection to osmium, from Greek osme (ï¿½odorï¿½) .

Is it, for instance a pleasant odor or foul (Smithson Tennant, who named this element, characterized the odor as "pungent and peculiar")? No such question arises with bromine. It is from the Greek bromos, ï¿½stenchï¿½. Expect more, even stranger, element names to be examined next issue. *"We propose, therefore, the name ï¿½prometheumï¿½ (symbol Pm) for element 61 after Prometheus,..who stole fire from heaven for the use of mankind... This name...symbolizes the dramatic way in which the element may be produced in quantity as a result of man's harnessing of the energy of nuclear fission." From Chemical & Engineering News, August 9, 1948, Jacob A. Marinsky and Lawrence E. Glendenin (via the OED). Do you enjoy reading Take Our Word For It? If so, take a moment to let us know by making a donation. Just click the button!

Tungsten (W) | Properties, Products, Facts, Uses | AMERICAN ELEMENTS ® Isotopes About Tungsten Though tin -rich minerals were plentiful in Germany’s Erzgebirge mountains during the Middle Ages, smelting the metal proved difficult due to the presence of substance that produced a heavy slag and leached tin away from the final yield. Frustrated metallurgists called this unwanted tin-“devouring” mineral wolf ram (wolf’s drool, cream, or soot, depending on translation), a pejorative term from which the mineral wolframite takes its name. In 1781, Carl Wilhelm Scheele predicted that the acid he had obtained by reducing a mineral named tungsten (from the Swedish tung sten, meaning “heavy stone”) contained a new element; two years later, when Spanish chemists José and Fausto Elhuyar obtained the same acid from the mineral wolframite, they succeeded in isolating the new element which they named wolfram. Confusingly, this element also came to be referred to as tungsten, while the mineral formally known as tungsten took on the name scheelite.

“Wolfram” and “tungsten” remained co-listed in the nomenclature recommendations of the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) up until 2005, when tungsten became the transition metal’s only officially recognized name. Tungsten retains the elemental symbol of W, though, and is still referred to as wolfram by some chemists and scientists around the world. Tungsten is a hard, extremely dense metal ranging in appearance from steel gray to silvery white. True to its name, tungsten is indeed heavy, but by far its most outstanding characteristic is its resistance to heat. High melting points are characteristic of the refractory metals (a group that also includes niobium , tantalum , rhenium , and molybdenum ), but tungsten’s melting point of 3410 ± 20°C is the single highest of any metal--higher than the temperatures at which metals like aluminum would vaporize--and its boiling point of 5900°C is roughly equal to the temperature of the sun’s surface. Of all metals, tungsten also exhibits the highest tensile strength, lowest coefficient of linear thermal expansion, and lowest vapor pressure at elevated temperatures.

Tungsten metal is also electrically conductive and possesses outstanding mechanical damping capability, extremely high resistance to corrosion, high moduli of elasticity and compression, excellent creep resistance, and the ability to absorb x-ray and gamma ray radiation. Natural tungsten is composed of five isotopes with half-lives so long they are considered essentially stable. It is the heaviest element with a known biological function (used by some enzymes), and as such is not harmful to humans and animals in quantities typically encountered in the environment. The aforementioned scheelite and wolframite are the two main mineral sources of tungsten; other less common minerals include ferberite and hübnerite. Despite its assets, raw tungsten contains impurities that make it extremely brittle and difficult to machine; producing ultra-high purity tungsten increases its malleability and ductility while retaining its thermal stability, as does alloying it with other metals such as rhenium. Commercially, tungsten is typically produced in the form of ammonium paratungstate via a multi-step process of solvent extraction and crystallization of sodium tungstate extracted from concentrated ores. Recycling of tungsten scrap is also a significant source of industrial tungsten.

Tungsten metal can be obtained by heating tungsten oxide with aluminum or by passing hydrogen gas over hot tungstic acid . Its high melting point made tungsten an attractive material for use in early incandescent lamps, but overcoming the difficulty of drawing it into flexible wires was a challenge. In 1909 GE researcher William D. Coolidge developed a revolutionary process for producing ductile tungsten filaments for use in light bulbs and high-precision x-ray tubes. Coolidge’s colleague Irving Langmuir further advanced lighting technology by discovering that coating a tungsten filament with a single layer of thorium atoms and shaping it into a coil greatly enhanced performance, while using a non-reactive gas like argon or nitrogen and prevented the tungsten from overheating, opening the door for the wide use of tungsten filaments in television tubes and cathode ray tubes. Other consumer applications for tungsten include components of High Intensity Discharge (HID) and vacuum metallized reflector lamps, pigments for ceramic glazes and enamels, dyes, inks, and metal-to-glass seals due to its similar expansion rate to borosilicate glass. Tungsten has applications in numerous industries and fields of study.

The metal and its alloys are the choice material for high temperature, high pressure environments. Combining the metal with nickel , cobalt , iron , molybdenum , tantalum , or rhenium yields uniquely dense and oxidation-resistant alloys and superalloys that are used in aircraft engines , turbine blades, furnace components, heating filaments, evaporation coils, melting crucibles , high voltage circuit breakers, balancing weights, vibration dampers, load-resistant crankshafts, base plates and heat spreaders, plasma spray gun nozzles, and magnetrons for microwave ovens. It is suitable as a nontoxic alternative to lead in ammunition and is frequently added to stainless steel to increase its strength. Typical tungsten-based precursors for catalysts and reagents include ammonium metatungstate , tungstic acid and ammonium paratungstate for use in lubrication, mineral separation and deNOx of emissions from chemical and power plants; tungsten oxide is a common petrochemical additive to decrease emissions and increase efficiency of hydrocarbon fuels. Tungsten carbide is an extremely dense material found in industrial machinery, cutting tools, abrasives, cermets, sports equipment , and some jewelry.

“Cemented carbides” are produced by combining tungsten carbide with a nickel , copper , or iron via powder metallurgy or liquid sintering to create a flexible, high strength material that is one of the most versatile for engineering and tooling and is commonly employed as substrates and support for synthetic diamond or boron nitride cutting tips and drill bits. Tungsten electrodes doped with thorium , cerium , or other rare earth oxides are employed in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), also known as tungsten inert gas (TIG) or wolfram inert gas (WIG) welding. An effective neutron reflector, tungsten is frequently employed in nuclear reactors, collimeters, and for x-ray and gamma ray shielding; the first imaging equipment involved x-ray bombardment of a tungsten target . Tungsten compounds play a role in advanced optoelectronics , thermosolar cells , and other cutting-edge high technology applications. Thin films of tungsten oxide can be used as a component of smart windows; cadmium tungstate is a phosphor material used in light-emitting diodes.

Tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and tungsten disulfide (WS2) belong to a group known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs or TMDCs) that have gained attention in recent years many for their ability to form two-dimensional 1-atom thick monolayers similar to graphene but with a larger band gap. Tungsten diselenide has been used to create an n-type field-effect-transistor (FET), demonstrating the potential for future low-power and high-performance tungsten-based integrated circuits. + Open All Tungsten-186 Trioxide Isotope Tungsten was first commercially used in incandescent and fluorescent light bulb filaments, and, later, in early television tubes. Tungsten expands at nearly the same rate as borosilicate glass and is used to make metal to glass seals. It is the primary metal in heating elements for electric furnaces and in many components where high pressure/ temperature environments are expected, such as aerospace and engine systems. Tungsten carbide is used in the production of industrial machinery, cutting tools, abrasives, and jewelry.

Tungsten is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity ). Elemental or metallic forms include pellets , rod , wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Tungsten nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra-high surface area. Tungsten oxides are available in powder and dense pellet form for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Tungsten fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Tungsten is also available in soluble forms including chlorides . These compounds can be manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries. Tungsten Properties Tungsten is a Block D, Group 6, Period 6 element. The number of electrons in each of tungsten's shells is 2, 8, 18, 32, 12, 2 and its electron configuration is [Xe] 4f14 5d4 6s2.

The tungsten atom has a radius of 137.pm and its Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. In its elemental form, CAS 7440-33-7, tungsten has a grayish white, lustrous appearance. Tungsten has the highest melting point of all the metallic elements. It is found in the minerals scheelite (CaWO4) and wolframite [(Fe,Mn)WO4]. Tungsten was first discovered by Torbern Bergman in 1781 and first isolated by Juan José Elhuyar and Fausto Elhuyar in 1783. In reference to its density, Tungsten gets its name from the Swedish words tung and sten meaning heavy stone. A Chemical Safety Assessment has not been carried out. 16. OTHER INFORMATION Safety Data Sheet according to Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 (REACH). The above information is believed to be correct but does not purport to be all inclusive and shall be used only as a guide. The information in this document is based on the present state of our knowledge and is applicable to the product with regard to appropriate safety precautions.

It does not represent any guarantee of the properties of the product. American Elements shall not be held liable for any damage resulting from handling or from contact with the above product. See reverse side of invoice or packing slip for additional terms and conditions of sale. COPYRIGHT 1997-2016 AMERICAN ELEMENTS. LICENSED GRANTED TO MAKE UNLIMITED PAPER COPIES FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY. Tungsten Isotopes Naturally occurring tungsten (W) has four stable isotopes : 182W, 183W, 184W, and 186. Additionally, 180W has an long half-life of 1.8 ± 0.2 Ea (1018 years). Nuclide Tungsten – Hard Not To Love EDITOR: Christopher Ecclestone | March 4th, 2014 | 4 Comments Tungsten – Hard Not To Love Christopher Ecclestone | March 04, 2014 | 4 Comments Tungsten (W) takes its name from the Swedish words, tung sten, or heavy stone.

Because it retains its strength at high temperatures and has a high melting point, tungsten is used in many high-temperature applications, such as light bulb, cathode-ray tube, and vacuum tube filaments, heating elements, and rocket engine nozzles. Due to its conductive properties, as well as its relative chemical inertia, tungsten is also used in electrodes. Its high melting point also makes tungsten suitable for aerospace and high-temperature uses such as electrical, heating, and welding applications, notably in the gas tungsten arc welding process. The hardness and density of tungsten are applied in obtaining heavy metal alloys. High-speed steel, may contain as much as 18% tungsten. Superalloys containing tungsten are used in turbine blades and wear-resistant parts and coatings. In its defense applications, tungsten, usually alloyed with nickel and iron or cobalt to form heavy alloys, is used in kinetic energy penetrators as an alternative to depleted uranium but may also be used in cannon shells, grenades and missiles to create supersonic shrapnel. Chinese in the Mix – Yet Again If one thing dominates the specialty metals space it is the dominance of the Chinese.

Despite this dominance for some decades now, we are betting on a breakdown of this ability to call the shots due to the Chinese having squandered their dominance in loss-leading sales resulting in exhaustion of deposits leading ultimately to a loss of 800-lb gorilla status. This process is in train and thus NOT completed yet. The next decade shall see this decline become apparent. We see in tungsten the same dynamic that other specialty metals have experienced over recent decades. During the 1980s and the 1990s, China, with the world’s largest reserves and lowest cost of production, flooded the world market. This drove down the price of both APT (Ammonium Paratungstate) and WO3 concentrates to below the production cost of most other producers. Amongst the distortions this produced was that APT prices, driven downwards by Chinese processors, were only marginally above the price of concentrates at about USD$50 per MTU (metric ton unit = 10kg). { Get our daily investorintel update Subscribe Thank you for joining InvestorIntel daily email updates!

} The distressed price in the world market quickly drove many tungsten mines and APT producers in the Americas, Asia and Europe out of business and led to their closure. Moreover, outside of China, exploration and mine development programs were quickly abandoned. However, the distressed market price for tungsten concentrates and its products began to change in 2003 and more markedly in 2004-2005 propelled by the rapid growth and emergence of the Chinese economy in the world marketplace. As in other metals the rapid growth of Chinese demand for tungsten products for its domestic market triggered a tightening of the availability outside of China which was coupled with the Chinese government’s policy curtailing mining projects and taxing the export of tungsten concentrates in order to conserve resources for future domestic needs. This led to a price surge in 2005 with the price of APT moving rapidly from below $80 to nearly $300 per MTU. This in turn sparked a recovery in Tungsten recycling, so the price stayed in the $250 range for the ensuing five years.

However, with recycling at its max (37% of global supply in 2010 according to the USGS) and demand for Tungsten still high, the APT price took a further step upwards to around $460. Since then it has eased back. Just as in Rare Earths and other specialty metals the Chinese government is curtailing mining programs and strongly “encouraging” downstream processing of concentrates to higher value added products such semi-finished and finished tungsten products. We might also note that before the 2008 slump China had become a net importer of tungsten concentrates and scrap. In 1Q11, China’s Ministry of Land and Resources announced that authorities in the country had identified and ordered the clean-up of more than 280 illegal mines in an effort to regulate the exploration of valuable minerals. The number of exploration licenses for minerals such as Rare Earths, tungsten, tin, and antimony were reduced to 116 from 400 in eleven provinces and regions in the country via spot checks led by teams dispatched by the ministry. This campaign, initiated last June by the ministry, has aimed to end the supposedly illegal excavation of valuable minerals.

The ministry earlier ordered that the clean-up of illegal mines should be completed before the end of November 2011. These measures, ostensibly, were in an effort to conserve resources. Pricing The average annual price of tungsten since 1950 has fluctuated between a nadir of US$10 per metric ton unit in 1963 and a peak of US$175 in 1977. After that point it sagged back to trade in a $50-75 band for several decades before its revival in the new century. The chart below (from Metals Bulletin) shows the recent price trends for APT, with a clear recovery being evident since its nadir in mid-2009. More interesting though is that the current price vastly exceeds levels pre-2008, which is a different look to most other industrial metals. During the last five years, trade in concentrates has diminished and the market has relied more and more upon the APT quotation as a price guide since APT is the product traded in the largest quantity. Prices are mainly based on the quotations published twice a week by London’s “Metal Bulletin”, although other trade journals also publish quotations or indicative prices.

Our latest projections are shown in the table below. Prices peaked in 2014 and then started a light decline mainly because Western world production did not pick up and China started slowing. Losing Malaga’s mine from the production picture meant that the projected production from other mines was not enough to seriously move the price lower. Frankly not enough is known about the China dynamic to explain the likely actions there. For instance, was China restricting export quotas a ploy to get prices up or does it reflect some sort of production problem, either short- or long-term within the Tungsten supply chain within China? Pricing even at the near $400 level for 2015 projected here is enough to give handsome returns to most mine reactivation plans or low capex de novo projects. The Serious Players The steam has certainly gone out of the Tungsten space as the bulk of players have been unable to maintain the excitement surrounding Tungsten of a couple of years back through the mining market slump. The grim reaper took down Malaga, which was the most advanced and historic producer.

The dire state of the market has not helped North American Tungsten get its follow-on project moving and companies like Largo have stepped back from their tailings reprocessing scheme in Brazil to focus on another metal (Vanadium). Colt (GTP.v) had seemed ready to go live in Portugal and is now focusing on its gold, in a two-horse race. Playfair Mining ditched its Tungsten and headed towards Irish gold (no jokes about leprechauns please). Woulfe Mining (WOF.v) had a management convulsion and went from being production- oriented to being a perpetual drilling story under Dundee’s aegis. This gives the stock the dubious distinction of being an entirely new category which we have called ex-near-producer! Almonty Industries (AII.v), the name says it all in that the company sees itself as producing something and that it does. The company bought Heemskirk’s mine in the province of Salamanca in Spain and has steamed ahead with production. In recent times it made a rather half-hearted run at merging with the AIM-listed Ormonde Mining (ORM.L, which owns the advanced Barruecopardo project in the same province).

That came to naught after zero effort was put into the challenge. Almonty though has the cashflow and team that comes from having an existing operation and that should help it get its second mine going or expedite it bolting on another property in the Iberian Peninsula or further afield. We wonder whether Colt’s mothballed project could prove tempting. The management at Almonty are hedge fund type guys and thus totally different to the usual wheelspinners who want to just drill ad infinitum. We have a sneaking suspicion that Almonty may yet resurface with Ormonde in its sights. The dilemma of North American Tungsten (NTC.v) is that its Cantung mine has a finite life and is not making enough money to fund internally the construction of its successor, Mactung, nor is the company making enough money to inspire investors to even want to fund such a project. Despite the very healthy APT price, NTC’s revenues were $79.8 million – down 26% from fiscal 2012. While it had positive cash flow from operating activities $3.7 million – these had decreased by $17.4 million from fiscal 2012.

The end result was a net loss of $13.3 million ($0.06 per share), deteriorating a further $3.4 million from fiscal 2012. That cashflow was positive was the only consolation. With capex on Mactung in the Yukon standing at CAD$356mn, the prospects of that getting off the ground look slim. Wolf Minerals (WLF.ax, WLFE.L) have soldiered on with their low-grade deposit Hemerdon Ball tungsten and tin project in Devon, in the south-west of England and are on the verge of production. All kudos must go to these fellows. Having tin in the mix also gives them an extra feather in the cap. The company secured a total funding package of approximately A$212 million (from RCF, ING and Unicredit as well as equipment suppliers) to fund development of the project, which was also more than its competitors could achieve. Interestingly the capex at the latest calculation is only $123.2mn, so the company has more than provided for its needs compared to so many other miners who keep returning to the well because they got it wrong the first time.

Production is expected to begin in mid-2015. Full year production is expected to be 3,450 tonnes of WO3, and maybe more interestingly 360 tpa of Tin. It certainly helped that the new open-pit mine was not on virgin territory as it is surrounded by old clay pits. With a market cap of AU$100mn it also has the healthiest valuation in the space. We are not sure it deserves a higher valuation than Almonty. Resource Capital of Denver obviously don’t doubt the attractions for they have built up a 36.4% stake in the company. Conclusion Tungsten is a metal that has failed to capture the market’s interest due to generalized ignorance of Tungsten and its supply/demand dynamics. If investors can get into a lather over Rare Earths and Lithium then we feel that Tungsten is just as deserving of attention, maybe even more so. Tungsten, in theory, should be a bellwether of industrial activity, more than virtually any other metal as it is directly levered into machine-tool manufacturing as the swing factor in its demand (the relatively non-variable part being lighting uses).

However, the “spoiler” here is China which distorts the Tungsten market as much as it has distorted so many others, So you have a situation like now where Western Tungsten demand is weakish but Chinese demand is strong (and the Chinese have slashed exports) so up goes the price. We could also have a situation, such as now, where Western demand recovers and Chinese demand slows (and/or exports rise) and the price marks time. The lesson here being that ostensible demand does not matter in some metals, instead all that matters is China’s attitude. Overall there now exists a window of opportunity for tungsten producers, outside of China, as end users scramble to secure alternative, more reliable sources of supply. Any broader economic recovery (than the current anaemic version) should lead to heated competition for tungsten concentrates in the global market between Chinese and non-Chinese processors and consequently result in an increasing price structure for tungsten and its products in the future. A jump in prices of APT to over $500 would not be unthinkable beyond 2016.

Question: Which chemical element takes its name from the Swedish for'heavy stone'?
Answer: TUNGSTEN